Hauppauge Car Dealership Opens its Doors to Aid in Continued Sandy Relief Efforts

A local car dealership has become a staging and distribution area for emergency relief supplies being shipped out to areas still struggling to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy.

Novak Motors in Hauppauge, for the past few months has offered up 15,000 square feet of its warehouse space to be used to house supplies such blankets, emergency kits, personal hygiene products, non-perishables goods, toiletries and other supplies that international relief organization, Convoy of Hope, is regularly shipping to hard hit areas of Long Island, New York and New Jersey.

"When the local church Assembly of God of Medford made us aware that Convoy of Hope was searching for a place in Suffolk County to house their supplies, we acted without hesitation to provide a solution," said Joe Coreno, Director of Operations at Novak Motors.  "Novak Motors has over 45,000 square feet of space, so we worked with our internal team to shift some of our operations and allocate 15,000 square feet for use in the recovery effort,"

Coreno said his employees have been working in shifts to help load and unload trucks as they come in.

“Everybody participated,” said Coreno. “We had trucks coming in at 7 and 8 at night and we did rotating shifts. We were here to help. We did as much as we could based on what we had,” he said.

Coreno, who lives in Bayport, said his home didn’t suffer damage during the storm, but said other homes around him were hard hit.

“We worked to help our neighbors, but I wanted to do something on a large scale,” said Coreno.

Novak Motors has not only been able to assist Convoy of Hope in the disaster relief efforts, but the dealership has also provided special programs and resources for its customers who have lost vehicles due to the storm.

"We are all Long Islanders and have family and friends who have been severely affected by Hurricane Sandy. Whatever we could do to help in the recovery efforts was a no-brainer," said Coreno.  "We will continue to proudly serve the community as a distribution center as long as we are needed," he said.

To date, Convoy of Hope has dispatched 57 tractor-trailer loads carrying more than two million pounds of emergency aid supplies, including food, water, blankets and cleaning products to storm survivors throughout New York and New Jersey.
“We are extremely grateful that Novak Motors has provided such a large and centrally located space for our disaster response efforts on Long Island,” said Jeff Nene, a national spokesperson for Convoy of Hope,  “Their caring and friendly staff has been able to accommodate our various needs in such a short amount of time and we couldn't have been successful in our mission without their support," said Nene.

For more information about Hurricane Sandy relief efforts on Long Island, or to make donations, please contact the following: 

• For Donations to Convoy of Hope: Those wishing to make a contribution to the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts can make a secure online contribution at http://www.convoyofhope.org. To place a $10 donation on your cellular bill, text the word CONVOY to 50555. Standard text and data rates apply.  
• For Donations to Long Island Cares: Long Island Cares is Long Island’s first food bank and one of the region’s most comprehensive hunger action organizations serving individuals and families in need. To make a donation, please contact www.licares.org or call (631) 582-FOOD.